Fort Collins Divorce Attorneys

Local representation for Northern Colorado families since 1981. Whether your divorce is amicable or contested, we will help you protect what matters most.

Request a Consultation Call 970-482-9770
40+
Years in Northern Colorado
1981
Serving Larimer County Since
3
Local Attorneys
Local
Old Town Fort Collins Office

Divorce is rarely a legal problem first. It is a housing problem, a money problem, and a parenting problem that happens to be resolved in a courtroom. What most people actually need at the start is not a strategy for trial. They need someone to tell them plainly what is going to happen, in what order, and what it is likely to cost.

We have handled dissolution of marriage cases in Fort Collins since 1981. Our office is at 110 E Oak Street in Old Town, a short walk from the Larimer County Justice Center at 201 La Porte Avenue, where your case will be filed and heard.

A Divorce Attorney Who Knows the Larimer County Courts

Colorado divorce law is the same in Durango as it is in Fort Collins. Larimer County divorce practice is not. The family court facilitators here have their own procedures. The judges and magistrates have their own expectations about disclosure, about parenting plans, and about what a well-prepared settlement looks like. The mediators, appraisers, business valuation experts, and Child and Family Investigators who get used in these cases are a small and known group.

An attorney who appears in this courthouse regularly knows which arguments land, how long a division actually takes to set a hearing, and when a fight is genuinely worth having. That knowledge is not a luxury. It shortens cases, and shorter cases cost less.

Divorce Cases We Handle

Uncontested Divorce

For couples who agree on all major issues. The fastest and least expensive path through the process.

Contested Divorce

When property, parenting time, or support are genuinely in dispute and require negotiation or hearing.

High-Asset Divorce

Closely held businesses, rental property, stock compensation, and complex retirement assets.

Property & Debt Division

Equitable division of the marital home, retirement accounts, vehicles, and marital debt.

Spousal Maintenance

Whether maintenance applies, how Colorado's advisory formula works, amount, and duration.

Parenting Time & Child Support

Parenting plans, decision-making allocation, and support calculations when children are involved.

Legal Separation

An alternative to dissolution when insurance, religious, or personal reasons make divorce the wrong step.

Divorce Mediation

Resolve the case without the cost, delay, and damage of a contested hearing.

How a Divorce Actually Moves Through Larimer County Court

Most people have never filed anything in a courthouse and have no idea what the next twelve months look like. Here is the honest sequence for a typical Larimer County dissolution.

1. Confirm you can file here

Colorado has a residency requirement before a court can dissolve your marriage, and the case is generally filed in the county where one of you lives. This is usually straightforward, but it matters if one spouse recently moved or is stationed elsewhere. See our guide to residency and jurisdictional requirements.

2. Filing and service

One spouse files a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with the Larimer County District Court and the other is formally served, or the two of you sign and file jointly. The 91-day clock starts from filing or service. Filing fees currently run a few hundred dollars, and waivers are available if you qualify. Read how to file for divorce in Colorado.

3. Mandatory financial disclosures

Both spouses must exchange sworn financial statements, tax returns, pay records, and account statements early in the case, generally within 42 days. This step is not optional and it is not a formality. Doing it thoroughly the first time prevents most of the disputes that later turn into billable fights. See our guide to financial disclosure requirements.

4. Initial Status Conference

A short early meeting with a family court facilitator or magistrate that sets deadlines for the rest of the case, addresses any temporary orders for parenting time or support, and typically orders mediation. It is required, and nothing about the final outcome of your case is decided there.

5. Mediation

Larimer County courts routinely require mediation before setting a contested hearing. The large majority of divorces resolve at this stage, which is almost always cheaper and less damaging than a trial, and it leaves the decision with you rather than a judge. Read more about when mediation is required.

6. Permanent orders

If you reach a full agreement, the court reviews the separation agreement and parenting plan and enters a decree, often without a contested hearing. If you do not, a judge or magistrate hears evidence and decides. Either way, the decree cannot enter before the 91-day period has run.

What a Colorado Divorce Actually Decides

A dissolution resolves four separate questions, and they are decided under different rules. Property and debt are divided equitably, which means fairly rather than equally, after separating marital from separate property. Spousal maintenance is evaluated using an advisory statutory formula that considers the length of the marriage and both incomes, but the court retains discretion over both amount and duration. Parenting time and decision-making are allocated under the best-interests factors in C.R.S. § 14-10-124. Child support is calculated from a guideline formula driven by both parents' incomes, the number of overnights, and health insurance and childcare costs.

These issues interact. Trading away a share of a retirement account to keep the house changes what you can afford, which affects what a maintenance number needs to look like. Agreeing to a parenting schedule without checking the overnight count changes child support. Deciding them one at a time, in isolation, is how people end up with a decree that technically works and practically does not. Colorado is also a no-fault state, so none of these turn on who is to blame for the marriage ending.

Areas We Serve

Our Fort Collins office serves clients throughout Northern Colorado, including:

  • * Fort Collins
  • * Loveland
  • * Greeley
  • * Windsor
  • * Wellington
  • * Berthoud
  • * Estes Park
  • * Larimer County
  • * Weld County

Meet Your Attorneys

Michael D. Liggett

Family law and mediation in Northern Colorado for over four decades.

Gail B. Goodman

Family law, probate, guardianship, and conservatorship matters.

Sarah E. Liggett

Family law and criminal defense for Larimer County clients.

Divorce Questions We Hear Every Week

How long does a divorce take in Fort Collins?
Colorado sets a floor, not a ceiling. A court cannot finalize a dissolution until at least 91 days have passed from the date the petition was filed or your spouse was served. If the two of you agree on everything and the paperwork is clean, a case can close not long after that window opens. A contested case with disputed parenting time, a business to value, or a house neither spouse wants to sell commonly runs six to eighteen months in Larimer County. We give you a realistic range once we understand your specific facts.
How much does a divorce cost in Colorado?
The Larimer County filing fee is currently around $230, and fee waivers are available if you qualify. Beyond that, attorney fees depend almost entirely on how much the two of you disagree. We bill hourly against a retainer, and the size of that retainer tracks the complexity of your matter. The honest truth is that the biggest cost driver in a divorce is conflict, not hourly rates. Two people who negotiate in good faith spend a fraction of what two people who litigate every issue spend. We will talk through the likely range with you before you commit to anything.
Is Colorado a 50/50 divorce state?
No. Colorado is an equitable distribution state, which means marital property is divided fairly rather than automatically down the middle. The court looks at each spouse's economic circumstances, contributions to the marital estate including contributions as a homemaker, the value of any separate property, and how separate property changed in value during the marriage. A roughly even split is often the result, but it is an outcome rather than a rule. Property owned before the marriage or received by gift or inheritance is generally separate, though appreciation during the marriage can still be marital.
Do I have to prove my spouse did something wrong?
No. Colorado is a no-fault state. The only ground for dissolution is that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and one spouse saying so is enough. Your spouse cannot block the divorce by refusing to agree. Fault also does not drive how property is divided or whether maintenance is awarded. It can still matter in narrow circumstances, most notably where domestic violence or child endangerment affects parenting time, or where one spouse has dissipated marital assets. Outside of those situations, the court is not interested in litigating who was the better spouse.
Do I need an attorney if our divorce is amicable?
Usually yes, and often for less than you would expect. An uncontested divorce still produces a binding court order that divides retirement accounts, allocates debt, sets parenting time, and can permanently foreclose a claim for maintenance. Those decisions follow you for years and are difficult to undo. A common, economical approach is for one spouse to retain counsel to draft the separation agreement while the other has it reviewed independently. In our experience the people who regret their divorce settlement are rarely the ones who fought too hard. They are the ones who signed something they did not fully understand.
What happens to the house and the retirement accounts?
For most Northern Colorado couples these are the two largest items on the table, and neither is automatically awarded to either spouse. Common outcomes include selling and dividing the net proceeds, or one spouse keeping the home and offsetting the other's share with retirement assets or a buyout. Dividing an employer retirement plan generally requires a separate order, often a QDRO, entered alongside the decree. Mistakes here are expensive and sometimes irreversible, so the mechanics deserve real attention rather than a handshake at the kitchen table.

Talk to a Fort Collins Divorce Attorney

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Trusted by Northern Colorado Families Since 1981

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